Authentication of documents, currency notes, certificates and detections of counterfeiting using simple means without need for extensive interventions is a challenge that is being addressed by many technologists and scientists. In some products, this feature is provided for, but still does not solve the issue of counterfeiting, for eg as in cigarettes it is provided for a pack, but is not an essential feature of each cigarette.
Fake cigarettes are a major problem for cigarette manufactures across the globe as the cigarette counterfeiting is immensely lucrative, with profits easily rivaling those of the narcotics trade. The trade in counterfeit cigarettes has been a problem for years and it is a growing global problem that hurts tobacco manufacturers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each year. In addition to deceiving smokers into buying fake cigarettes, the trade in counterfeit cigarettes supports organized crime. Also, counterfeited cigarettes are often of substandard quality and do not comply with government and industry standards. Since these cigarettes are manufactured using contaminated tobacco leaves; the use of the same results in increased health risks associated with smoking. Thus counterfeited cigarettes very often contaminated with much higher levels of tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, lead, cadmium, and arsenic than genuine brand-name cigarettes. Also, consumers buy fake cigarettes that are transported and stored in unhygienic conditions.
Fake cigarettes represent a billion-dollar industry across the globe and with tobacco taxes rising aggressively, fake cigarettes also grown in popularity as the same is available at a lesser price. Since the consumer intend to save few dollars on their smokes, the smokers are ignorant of counterfeiting cigarettes and the price becomes more relevant than the harmful additives, which normally included in the fake cigarettes like feces and sawdust that are even worse than that of a normal cigarette.
Thus the fake cigarettes become a global challenge not only for the manufacturers but also on the governments due to substantial increase in health risks.
Detecting illegal cigarettes using portable E-noses based on the differences between odors from counterfeit and genuine cigarettes is disclosed in article titled “Cigarette Brand Identification Using Intelligent Electronic Noses” by Dehan Luo. However, the method is tedious and non-reliable.
In the light of the foregoing, there is a need in the art to provide an effective solution that can take care of counterfeiting in individual cigarettes but not on the cigarette packets.
Also, premier cigarettes need a feature to authenticate their originality by the end user himself. Moreover the features available today cannot authenticate individual cigarette, rather they authenticate only the boxes containing them.
There is therefore a need for counterfeiting and authentication features which can be visibly observed. Most features available today are on the packet and not on individual cigarette. The current available solutions for counterfeiting and authentication include holographic stickers, fluorescent inks, screen printing, offset printing, flexographic printing and blind embossing. Again, all these features are marked on the packet of cigarette and not on the individual cigarette. Further, these features are costlier and difficult to use and also vests with issues such as biodegradability and safety.
So there is a need to provide means to detect counterfeiting in cigarettes that will enable detection in each unit, rather for an entire pack. Also, the solution proposed should be such that it does not affect the product itself during incorporation or detection, either in terms of aesthetics or in terms of method of use. The feature and method should also be such that it preferably provides a simple visual means of detection of counterfeiting.